It just doesn't seem fair, does it? Some were given a wonderful, healthy, positive heritage -- a beautiful gown, a royal robe. Others were handed rags. For some people the process of passing a solid heritage is a natural outgrowth of who they are. Others can't even fathom the experience of positive family living. The good news is that anyone can give a positive heritage. The bad news is that the process of doing so will be much harder for some than others.
You can give what you didn't get. But doing so requires that you move on to a bright future and not remain a victim of your past. It will be hard work, but it will bring great long term rewards for you and for future generations.

Sacred Sacrifice

Some "sacrifices" are really self motivated. We work long hours to be promoted. We endure grueling practice sessions for the chance to shine during the game. We volunteer because we want the praise of others. But the willingness to endure difficulty or personal loss for the sake of others is the essence of charity. It also is the key to giving a strong heritage when you didn't receive one.

I'm too young to have been there, but the moment has been preserved on film for my generation and future generations to visit. I have seen it rerun on television many times. It has magnetic emotional draw. My eyes stayed glued to the events unfolding before me. I wince in anticipation of what I know will occur.

The first segment shows a vast armada of ships sailing under a somewhat overcast sky, headed in concert toward a determined destination. The next picture shows soldiers standing in crowded conditions in what at first seems to be a small room. As the camera pulls back, it reveals they are actually in a landing vessel that will belch them out into the shallow water, heading them toward a waiting shore in France, where imminent danger, even instant death, is lurking.

My heart sinks whenever I see the corpses floating in the surf. I see courageous men carrying heavy backpacks and weapons advance toward the shore. Some fall -- some shoot back -- all realize the odds are great against making it to the base of a cliff where there may be some semblance of safety. Some make it; many don't. Buddy helping buddy; panic running unabashed; the popping of gunfire dominates the decibels. My heart races as I watch those boys sacrifice what is most valuable so that others might be freed from tyranny.

Thousands made their exit from this earth on the shores of Normandy. The white grave markers near those shores symbolize the string around our collective index finger, reminding us that during World War II our freedom came with a price -- a sacred price.

A few years ago I told the story of the painful yet successful Normandy invasion to Paul and Joann, a married couple. Both brought children from earlier marriages into their new family. "What does that story have to do with me?" Joann asked. She could not make the connection between soldiers at Normandy and her present family struggles. Paul and Joann were trying to make a blended family work, but neither had a solid reference point. Each had tasted the pain of failed relationships and broken homes before meeting one another and forming a new family.

Though both brought pain into the marriage, both also had hope for something better. Still, Paul and Joann lacked the experiences, skills or understanding of how to build a solid home life. So the pattern has continued -- an unbroken cycle of tyranny. They each asked me the same thing: "How can we give our kids something we've never received ourselves?"

"If the cycle is going to be broken," I answer, "it must start with you. Someone had to be first when we stormed the beaches of Normandy. They sacrificed themselves in order to secure victory. Theirs was not a glamorous role. But they were the true heroes of that battle. They made a sacred sacrifice for the sake of others. That is precisely what you must do for your children and future generations."

Like a roomful of dominoes standing face to face, when the tumbling starts, eventually all will fall if someone does not intercede. Someone in this family must pay the price and it is a heavy price. Paul and Joann are determined to put a halt to the cycle that has run several generations and now is flowing into their children's lives. They have realized their responsibility. If they are not devoted to ending it here, it will find its way into their grandchildren's lives. This battle is their "Normandy". They may have to spend the remainder of their lives fighting to create a good heritage to pass to their future generations. Perhaps they may not even get to enjoy it or see its impact. Whatever the outcome, they are in a battle. They are now to the point where they can affectionately call this struggle their "Normandy".
The white grave markers at Normandy are a reminder that those men interceded for us, giving us what they could not enjoy themselves -- freedom. Paul and Joann's children will never know the full price their parents are paying; but if Paul and Joann succeed, the children will enjoy a freedom they didn't fight for -- the freedom to begin their own families liberated from the ongoing pain that could have toppled into their future family lives. They will have the freedom to start fresh, to make their own choices.

In the next newsletter, we'll continue on this topic of how to hand your kids a Godly Heritage that maybe you were not handed.

Adapted from Your Heritage by J. Otis Ledbetter & Kurt Bruner.  All rights reserved.  HeritageBuilders.com